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III. CRIMINAL AGG HESS ION: BY WHOM 

COMMITTEU':' 



" Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. 



AN INQUIRY 

nv 

EDWARD ATKINSON, LLD., PH.D., 

BROOIvLINE, MASS., FEimUAllY 22, 1«D9. 



A SEQUEL TO 

I. THE COST OF A NATIONAL CRIME. 
II. THE HELL OF WAR AND ITS PENALTIES. 



First Edition, Fifti.bn Hdndred Copies. 



[Funds are wanted to pay for printing. stanipin<;. and mailinir future editions of 
this pamphlet III., at four doUars per iiundred. Witiiout i>osta;ie it will be sint at 
two dollars per hundred by express. 

The first pamphlet, containing I. The Cost of a Xatioual Crime, II. The Hell of 
War and its Penalties, eighth edition, making 20,000, will also be supplied without 
stamps at two dollars per hundred ami express charges; or, if mailing lists are sent, 
it will be mailed at four dollars per hundred. 

Riinit to Ei)WAKi> Atkinson, Box 112, Boston, Mass.] 



/ ;■ 






III. 

CKI.MIN Al, .\(i<ilM:sS|(»N ; 

I'.V WHOM (O.M.MI li'KI)-:' 

In November, 18K.S, a danger l>e(:iino dimly loi-csci'ii that this cduiitiv 
iniglit be committed to acts of criminal aggression wliieli the President liad 
<lenounced in April in liis message to Cimgress giving the reasc^ns why tin; 
oppressive rnle of Spain shonld i)e nuiioved by foree from the Island of Cniia. 

Many persons who hail i)elieved anil wlio still believe that the ride of Spain 
could have been removed without resort to war, yet when war was declared gave 
their support to the Government and their approval to every measure deemed 
necessary to the conduct of the war. 

A few distrusted the sincerity of the President and anticipated tin; evil events 
that have ensued. The writer was not then one of those who shared in the dis- 
trust of the K.xeeutive, although he feared the influence of tliose l)y whom he 
then believed and still believes the President had been forced to a premature 
and unseasonable exercise of force. Is there not suilieient proof of a combina- 
tion organized for the purpose of criminal aggression which the President had 
denounced, but to which he has for the time submitted ? 

With the purpose of sustaining the President and to aid him in sui)pressin"- 
these malignant influences the writer prejjared two treatises upon 

I. The Cost of a National Crime. 
II. The Hell of War and its Penalties. 

When the forecast of a deticiency of $1.50,000,000 in the next fiscal year was 
first published in November the estimate was received with derision by thought- 
less persons. Many times the writer was asked why the revenues of the tropical 
islands falling into our possession on which Spain had battened should not suflice 
to sustain their goverimient. 

The venal yellow press not only derided this estimate, but attempted to dis- 
credit the writer by gibes and sneers which simply increased the contempt in 
which such papers are held. 

How stands the case in February, 1899, four months later? The representa- 
tives of the Covernment in the House of Representatives now forecast a deticiencv 
in the next fiscal year of nnich greater amount than the writer's guarded estimate, 
while the deficiency of the present year will exceed the estimate of the Secretary 
of the Treasury given in his annual report l)y at least forty per cent. 

In order to sustain the President in avoiding criminal aggression, the writer 
also secured from abroad the ghastly evidence of the penalties of the Hell of War 
contained in the second treatise. 

It is not a pleasant duty to prepare this third treatise sliowing how public 
trust has been betrayeil and by whom. It will again invoke obloquv and abiLse, 
but to any one who was bred in the time when resistance to the national crime of 
slavery brought out similar abuse, and even personal danger, these attacks but 
give support to the opponents of crimiiuvl aggression as they did fifty years a"-o 
to the agitation against slavery then represented by Garrison and Sumner, bv 
biddings of Ohio and Hale of New Hampshire, by John Quincv Adams of Massa- 



CRIMINAL AGGRESSION : BY WHOM COMMITTED? 



chusetts, and by Seward of New York. These personal attacks are but evi- 
dence of the tribute that unscrupulous and depraved men liave always paid to 
those who have defended the honor and integrity of the nation; this tribute 
was rendered to the men who redeemed it from the crime of slavery, so it 
will be to the men who hope and expect now to redeem it from criminal 
aggression. 

It was assumed that President MoKinley would avail himself of the opportu- 
nity given at the dinner of the Home Market Club to announce a positive policy. 
Yet we find in that speech but two positive statements. 

The first is in the following words : " Every present obligation has been met 
and fulfilled in the expulsion of Spanish sovereignty from the islands." 

The second declaration is in these terms : " No imperial designs lurk in the 
American mind. They are alien to American sentiment, thought, and purpose." 
In these words the President adopts the principles of the Anti-Imperialist 
League and justifies all that has been done or said by that league. It becomes 
necessary, however, to review the rest of the speech. Respect for the office of 
President may not release the humblest citizens from the duty of bringing its 
incumbent before the bar of public opinion when he transgresses. Having been 
called upon to address a club of clergymen, I have recast my address to them in 
this treatise. No. 3, under the title, " Criminal Aggression, by Whom Com- 
mitted?" 

Gentlemen : I was very glad to receive the invitation to address members of 
the clergy in this emergency, for it seems to me that a duty has come upon the 
clergy of this country corresponding to that which led to the protest of the three 
thousand ministers against the crime of slavery a few years before the Civil War 
ensued in which slavei'y destroyed itself. 

We are in an emergency to-day as serious as that which then threatened 
the life of this nation. The honor of this nation is now compromised by an 
aggressive war of forcible annexation under the lead of a President who attained 
the confidence of this country a short year since by declaring that he then spoke 
not " of forcible annexation, for that, by our code of morality, Avould be criminal 
aggression." Have we changed our code? If not, who is responsible for the 
criminal aggressions upon and the slaughter of the people of the Philippine 
islands by thousands ? 

I was reading last evening Trevelyan's " History of the American Revolu- 
tion," and I came across this report. In one of the great debates of 1774 Stephen 
Fox, the brother of Charles James Fox, speaking of the condition of aftairs in 
this country, said: " I rise. Sir, with an utter detestation and abhorrence of the 
present measures. AVe are either to treat the Americans (read, if you please, 
'Filipinos ') as subjects or as rebels. If we treat them as subjects the "bill goes 
too far; if as rebels, it does not go far enough. We have i-efused to hear the 
parties in their defence, and we are going to destroy their charter (read deprive 
them of their rights) without knowing the constitution of their Government." 
Could a closer parallel be brought between the conditions of 1774 when we were 
the rebels and the conditions of the Filipinos to-da}' in their resistance to the 
effort to put a foreign rule upon them, in their refusal to be deprived of their 
rights, and in their objection to accept the gospel of peace at the jjoint of the bay- 
onet with the slaugliter of thousands under the rapid-fire guns ? 

Now, I i^ropose to deal with this question consecutively. We were driven 
prematurely into a war which may have been necessary for the removal of Span- 
ish oppression from the Island of Cuba. It is useless now to discuss the questiou 
whether that war was necessaiy or not. 



CRIMINAL .\(:(;i;i:ssinx : i:V WHOM ((iMMlllKli.' 5 

We entertMl into \\li;it one may Jit Ita^l dctlan' was :iii uiisciisonablu dec- 
laration of war licfdre wt- were iirepan-tl and at tlie time wiien tlu! utmost 
liazard of tiie tropii-al elimatt! was ui)on us. Hut even if tiiat war was inevitable 
does any one suppose that i\w war wouM have oeciu'red had Lineoln been Presi- 
dent, who resisted even the moral purpose of this eountry fur two yitars initil ho 
knew the eountry would support him in emamipation •' Dues any one; suppose 
that if he had been the I'resitient of the I'nited States any men of the char- 
acter and quality of the jingo Senators coidd have forced his liand? Does any 
one suppose that (Jrant would have submitted to such dictation? Does any one 
suj)i)ose that if Cleveland had been there, even thoujj^h he himself had declared 
that it mij^^ht become necessary to deal with Cuba by force, he would have 
allowed his hand to be forced by the venal pressure of the yellow i)ress ami its 
Senatorial emissaries to Cuba? Is it not our misfortune to have had in the chair 
of the President of the United States a man of weak and imcertain jjurpose with- 
out convictions and unefpial to the emergency : who, having declared that an act 
of aggression would be a national crime, has trilled with the tpiestion ? Did he 
not in his recent apologetic speech before the Home Market Club seek to find a 
way out of the evil conditions into which he has led the country by divesting 
himself of the responsibility and trying to throw it all on the Congress of the 
United States? 1 think it is time to speak and to speak plainly. William 
Mclvinley is the President of the United States. He w^as treated with resi)ect in 
Boston as the President of the United States, but it was a great misfortune tliat 
even the members of the Home Market Club who utterly oj)pose expansion were 
under such obligation that none were able, owing to the courtesy of the occasion, 
to say one word in resistance to expansion or to the apparent policy of the Presi- 
dent. Therefore the President may have returned under the impression that he 
is sustained in acts of criminal aggression here in Boston when we know that the 
moral sense of the community — the conscience of the community — is being 
aroused day by day against the policy which he represents. 

Let us look a little into the history of this nuitter. 

In a speech, Dec. 15, 1808. when the President was swinging around the 
circle, dealing with audiences from the rear end of a railway train and taking the 
shouts of th(! crowd as an indication of jiublic sentiment, he reached Atlanta, 
and there he used these words : 

" That flag has been planted in two hemispheres and tiiere it remains, the 
symbol of libertj^ and law, of peace and progress. Who will withdraw from the 
people over whom it floats its protecting folds? Who will j)ull it down ? " 

If that is not a declaration of imperialism, what is it ? 

Wlio took down the flag in .Mexico and gave back to the Mexicans the control 
of their own aflairs after we had made comjuest of their country ? There is no 
such word in the President's speech to the Home Market Club. Since the date of 
the Atlanta speech he has had cause to change his tone. Under the brave lead of 
our Senator Hoar, supported by Senators Jones, of Arkansas, and CafTery, of 
Louisiana, and by many others too numerous to be named here, it has been made 
ai)i)arent that neither the common sense nor the conscience of this eountry will 
permit criminal aggression. We liave failed in defeating cession under the 
treat}' because there were many true men who are with tin; opponents of ex- 
pansion absolutely, who thought it best that the treaty should be sustained in 
order that Spain might be divested of any further word to say on this matter. 
The opponents of imperialism, of expansion, and of criminal aggression who 
voted for the treaty joined with the opponents of the treaty are a majority of the 
present Senate; many of them feeling indignant because they have been forced 



CRIMINAL AGGRESSION : BY WHOM COMMITTED? 



by tlie false conditions into which we had been brouglit by the President to 
accept the treaty. Thougli there are grave dangers growing out of the accept- 
ance of the cession of the Philipjjines, they are not insurmountable, and when 
the will of the country is exerted, as it is now being manifested, the Executive 
will be compelled to take the country out of the false position in which we now 
are. 

Now then, gentlemen, as to this speech of the President of the United States. 
Is it not an adroit rhetorical evasion of the jjending question ? Does it not show 
that he is still waiting to find out what will be popular rather than what will be 
right? Or what will control the future politics of this country rather than what 
will be for the true interest and honor of the nation ? When before in the history 
of this country has a treaty been sent into the Senate of the United States by the 
President without a message giving the views of the Executive, or the grounds 
and reasons on whicli such a treaty should be sustained ? Was not that evasion 
Number One ? Or rather, was it not one evasion among many ? 

The President says : " Many who were impatient for the conflict a year ago, 
apparently heedless of its larger results, are the first to cry out against the far- 
reaching consequences of their own act." Against whom does he make that insinu- 
ation ? Does he not attempt to put discredit, without naming them, vipon Senators 
who voted unwillingly for war, unwillingly for the treaty, and who are now try- 
ing to avoid the evil consequences of the conditions in which lie and his adminis- 
tration have put them ? 

Again the President says: "The evolution of events, which no man could 
control, has brought these problems upon us. Certain it is that they have not 
come through any fault on our own part." Had there been a man with any 
power of will to direct that evolution it would have been directed as human evo- 
lution may always be — by mental energy, in the right and not in the wrong direc- 
tion. It is easy to quote evolution in evasion of duty ; easy to talk about manifest 
destiny to cover a crime. It is the weak man who says " I couldn't help it." 

Again the President says: "In its prosecution and conclusion the great 
majority of our countrymen of every section believed they were fighting in a just 
cause." This it true ; they were fighting in the cause of liberty, and they had 
confidence in the declaration of the President that to let the war go beyond the 
restoration of libert}' to an oppressed people would be an act of criminal aggres- 
sion. 

The President says: "The Philippines, like Cuba and Porto Rico, were 
intrusted to our hands by the war, and to that great trust, under the providence 
' of God, and in the name of human progress and civilization, we are committed." 
Intrusted to our hands ? By whom ? How did we get possession of an area of 
about ten square miles or less which was all there was in the j^ossession of Spain 
and which is all there is to-day in our possession ? We secured it because the 
people trusted us. We found in the Philippine islands an organized army 
which had driven the Spaniards from every part of the islands except one or two 
■cities Avhere, through their navy, the Spaniards were enable<l to sustain them- 
selves. We called them to our aid, Admiral Dewey promoting the return of their 
chosen leader, Aguinaldo, to take the command and aid in the removal of the 
oppression of Spain from that little corner which was all that was not then in the 
possession of the inhabitants of those islands. That city of INIanila and the terri- 
tory within range of our guns have become " intrusted to our hantls " with one 
city, Iloilo, since added. All the I'est is intrusted to the inhabitants themselves. 
The Island of Luzon possesses large numbers of men of intelligence who have 
proven their capacity. It is under a constitution of which Senator Hoar says : 



CHIMIN AL AGGRESSION: II V WIIOM i()\l\flTli:i) 



" There are not ten nieii on the phmet who could have niaili- one lietter." They 
have an organi/ecl army. They have ri^'htfnlly .supplied Iheniseives with arms. 
Yet these peopli- who trusted us have been slau<riitored by liiousands by American 
troops aeting under the orders of I'resident MeKinlev. 

In apohifry :ind exense lor his previous course the rrcsjdent says : " ( 'onfrres.s 
can declare war, but a hi^'hcr powcrdecrccs iUs boimds and fixes its rcl.-itions and 
responsibilities. The I'resi(h'nt can direct the movements of soldiers upon the 
Held, and the lleets upon the sea, but lie eaimot foresee" tlie close of such ni«ive- 
ments or prescribe their limits." Perhaps he could not prescnl)e the limits — the 
more reason to count the cost in blood and treasure. The very moment this war 
was entered upon I sent to Europe for the sick an<l death rates of the Miitish 
armies in India, of the French army in the tro|)ics, and of the Dutch arniv in tlnMr 
colonies. In the treati.se on the Hell of War may be foimd the whole <;hastly 
record to which for want of foresio^ht we are about to expose the youn;^ men of 
this country unless we stop this national crime where it is. One example may 
here be given : 

A few years ago France undertook the conquest of .Madagascar, and to earrv 
Christian civilization to the inhabitants at the point of the bayonet. They landed 
12,.S00 troops, men ficuii the army and navy, 2.(HJU of whom were in colonial 
regiments and were acclimated. .Madagascar is a healthier island than Luzon, 
not as near the equator. In ten months 4,200 of these men died. The rest were 
so disabled that in one regiment, of which sixty per cent, died, not one single man 
reached the objective point. In Madagascar the French are now trying to main- 
tain troops under a sick and death rate that they are afraid to iiave puljlished 
even in their own country. 

Again, witness the condition of the wiiitc troops in India. There were 
70,000 British troops in India in 18i)6. In that year the admissions to hospital 
were nearly fourteen hunilred men to each thousand on the averat'c ; that is to 
say, the whole force admitted once, nearly four hundred twice ; the average term 
of each stay in hospital, thirty-five days. That average includes the health stations 
on the hills. There were 40,000 men on the plains, where it is hot and mostly dry. 
At some of these stations admission to hospitals ranged from 2,0oO to :5,400 for 
every thousand men. The conditions in India are not nearly as l)ad as the 
malarious conditions in the Philippines described by Professor ^^■orcester. In 
such hot climates, where every thought of morality and self-restraint is lost, .JoU 
in every 1,000 in India, and in some stations 850 and 1,015, are infected with 
venereal diseases, of which the details are given in my treatise on the Hell of 
War. The accounts of the Surgeon-General of the United States have l)een 
demanded so that the people of this country may learn wliat tiie hell of war 
really is even when no shot or shell is tired. 

I claim no more foresight than any other man of common sense, but when 
the danger of war was disclosed I sent for these documents and I have secured 
the printing of these details in a Senate document which Senator Lodge tried to 
stop on the ground of saving the expense of printing treatises by private persons. 
He was obliged to withdraw his objection when Senator Jones, of Arkansas, 
insisted on the record being made. You ma\' contrast, if you please, the elements 
of politics and patriotism in the acts anil si)ecches of the senior and the junior 
Senators of Massachusetts. Choose then who honors and who dishonors the State. 

Again the President says: " We cannot anticipate or avoid the consequences, 
but we must meet them." No, President McKinley was neither capable of fore- 
seeing or avoiding the consequences of his act. He now declares himself to be 
incapable of meeting the conse(|uences, and attempts to throw the whole l)urden 
upon the Congress of the United .States. 



8 CRIMINAL AGGRESSION : BY WHOM COMMUTED? 

Again he says : " There was but one alternative, and that was either Spain 
or the United States in the Pliilippines." Was tliere no other alternative? If 
there was no other why did Admiral Dewey bring Aguinaldo back to take the 
lead of the Filipinos ? Why did he accept the aid of the organized forces which 
ha^e now invested our army in Manila as it invested it when we were engaged in 
removing the o^jpressive forces of Spain from there ? Did not Admiral Dewey 
foresee the need of a land force to cooperate with the navy in vemoving the 
oppression of Spain when he promoted the return of Aguinaldo to Manila to 
command that force? Who is yet entitled to jjass judgment upon Aguinaldo? 
Our own officials have promoted his movements and perhaj^s unwisely made 
promises of support. What if he should prove to be a born leader of men ? 
Who will then be shamed? When shall we know the truth in this matter? 
When will the evidence of United States Consul-General Pi'att, of Singapore, and 
of Consul Wildman on this matter Ijelaid before Congress? We have as yet but 
indirect evidence of their interviews with Aguinaldo. What purports to be an 
authentic statement i^ublished by a friend and correspondent of Consul-General 
Pratt in Birmingham, Ala., is as follows : 

"Alluding to the first conference, the writer says: 'There were present 
General Emilio Aguinaldo y Femi ; E. Sjjencer Pratt, Consul-General of the United 
States ; Howard H. Bray ; J. Leyba, Aguinaldo's private secretary ; Colonel 
Marcelo del Pilar; and M. Santos.' 

"During the conference, at which Bray acted as interpreter, Aguinaldo 
explained to Consul-General Pratt incidents and objects of the late rebellion, and 
described the then disturbed state of the country. He then proceeded to detail 
the nature of the eooijeration he would give, in which he, in the event of the 
American forces from the squadron landing and taking jDossession of Manila, 
would guarantee to maintain order and discipline among the native troops and 
inhabitants in the same humane way in which he had hitherto conducted war, and 
prevent them from committing outrages on defenceless Spaniards beyond the 
inevitable in fair and honorable war. 

" He further declared his ability to establish a proper and responsible gov- 
ernment on liberal principles, and would be willing to accept the same terms 
for the country as the United States intended giving Cuba. The Consul-Genei-al 
of the United States, coinciding with the general views expressed during the dis- 
cussion, placed himself at once in telegraphic communication with Admiral 
Dewey at Hong Kong. As a result, another private interview was arranged at 
the American consular residence, between Aguinaldo, Pratt, Bray, and Leyba. 
As a sequel to this interview, and in resjjonse to the urgent request of Admiral 
Dewey, Aguinaldo left Singapoi'e at once for Hong Kong, and accompanied 
Dewey with the fleet to Manila. 

" General Aguinaldo's policy, as clearly .stated in his interviews at Singa- 
pore, embraced the independence of the Philippines. American protection 
would be desirable temporarily, on the same lines as that which might there- 
after be instituted in Cuba. The ports of the Philippines would be free to the 
trade of the world, safeguards being enacted against an influx of Chinese aliens 
who would compete with the industrious population of the country. The entire 
freedom of the press would be established, as well as of thought and public meet- 
ings. There would be general religious toleration, and steps would be taken for 
the exjjulsion of the religious fraternities who had a strong hand on every branch 
of the civil administration. 

" These promises were made, as stated, in the interviews with Consul-General 
Pratt at Singapore, telegraphed to Dewey at Hong Kong only a few days before 



CUIMIXAL AGGIi£SSIU.\ i:V WUUM LOMMll lEl) 



the fleet sailed, and Anfuinalflo aconnjpaiiifil tlm fleet at Dewey's iirfjeiit r<«iufst 
on receipt of I'ratt's tel(;<^i:iiiis. Sul»se(|ueiit events pr(»v»;il tiial A;;uinai<lo kept 
all ot" liis promises, but tliu iiilcn'stinf^f Iratiin* of this in<-iil«-nt is that no ollicial 
annoiUK-einents or puljlii-atioiis of the fads havi- cniaiiatcil from tlic (iovi-rnnient 
at Wasliiii<;toii." 

The Tresident says: " Tlie second altiMtialivu was that they he left U> the 
anarchy and chaos of no protectorate at all." The common sense «»f this country 
will reject that statement. There existed a protectorate ca|)ai)I<! of protectinj^ 
persons and property. Under that protectorate the lMiilipi)iiit' forces held iloijo, 
where they coniniiltcd no lootinj^, no intcrfcrtMicc witli |)ersoiis or property, no 
meddlinj; with the foreij^iiers. There they inaintaincd tlicir rif^hts until wc attacked 
them, and then they retin'<l. 

liy whom was this attack autlmri/.til ? Wliut inducetl tin; Tilipiiios to re- 
sist the forces of the United States? Who becfan that lij^ht? As yet wo have no 
evidence. Who is responsible? Aguinaldo says: "The I'resident of the United 
States is responsible,"' and I think he goes far to prove it. What ordcn- did the 
President of tiie United States utter l)ecenil)er 21 before the treaty h:id been rati- 
tied, either by the United St;ites or Spain, witiiout authority of law, usurpinj^ power 
not then vested in him ? He ordered (Jeneral Otis to take pcxssession of the Philip- 
pine islands. He says: " The actual occupation and administration of tiie entire 
group of the Philippine islands becomes immediately necessary and a military gov- 
ernment heretofore maintained in the United States, in the city, harbor, and bay 
of Manila and the whole of the ceded territory." Mark the words, " tiie whole of 
the ceded territory" from which bpain had already Iteen expelled by the Fili- 
pinos themselves, with the exception of ports under the control of the .Spanish 
navy. The advocates of expansion and of continuous i)ossession assume that 
there are no Filipinos who have a sense of their own rights or any power to 
maintain tliem. What .says your coadjutor. Rev. Clay MacCauIey, on this matter? 
Is he a competent witness? Visiting these islands with a feeling bred of the 
missionary spirit that it was our duty to retain tiiem. he found evidence on the 
spot which Avholly change his opinion. He says: 

" It should be known, to begin with, that the peoi>h' of the Philippines are 
opposed to such annexation. By the Philippine • people' I do notmean the savage 
tribes of the hills of Luzon and of the remote islands. These tribes have always 
ignored or antagonized every other than their own inherited governments. They 
would, for an indetinite time, be as hostile to the rule of the United States as the 
North American Indians ever were. Constantly recurring conllicts with them 
would await us in our government of the islands, even were all otlicr. sources of 
opposition removed. The Piiilippiiie ' people ' are the hundretls of thousands of 
Christianized natives and persons of half or mixed caste who now occupy numerous 
cities, towns, and plantations ; who possess accumulated wealth ; conduct agricult- 
ure, own factoi'ies, and direct foreign commerce ; and who iiave attained to a consid- 
erable degree of eilucation and culture in the arts and in the learned i)rofessions. 
These people have developed in large measure a political consciousness and 
ambition, and are now represented in the ' Fhiiippine Repui)lic.' Tiie proposed 
assumption of political sovereignty over them liy the United States has recently 
become magnified to them as their greatest danger. By common impidse they 
are throughout united to oppose it, and unless their fear can be ipiieted, or their 
allegiance to American sovereignty secured by persuasion or reward, they will 
carry their opposition into open warfare. Above all, they demand that the 
Government th:it directs their alVairs shall ii;ive ]>l:ice through their own consent. 
They resent the agreements of Spain and the United States, or the .acts of the 



10 CRIMINAL AGGRESSION: BY WHOM COMMITTED? 

American Congress, that dispose of them politically like so many pieces of chat- 
tel property. They claim to have now an established and systematized govern- 
ment, self chosen ; and evidently they have a large and well-armed army gathered 
to defend what they claim to be their freedom and independence. I have been 
informed on good authority that more than eighty thousand rifles have been im- 
ported by the Philippine insurgents during the jjast few months. Whatever 
might be done to win the Filipinos from allegiance to their ' repv;blic,' certain 
it is that an arbitrary act of annexation now would only arouse them to a struggle 
for freedom and national autonomy." 

Edifying spectacle it would be, that of this new republic of the far East 
striving to the death to defend itself from a greed of conquest satiating itself 
upon it in the old republic of the West, "the land of the free and the home of 
the brave." 

' ' And next, the people of the United States should know that their fellow-citi- 
zens now in the Philippines, the soldiers and sailors of the American army and 
navy there, ai'e generally opposed to or indifferent to the proposed annexation. 
With the most intelligent and thoughtful among them, antagonism is supported 
by judgment drawn from many considerations, some of whicli are hei'e sum- 
marized. Surely it is worth the attention of the people at home who are 
willing to commit our Government to an attempt at the annexation of the 
Pliilipj^ine islands, the fact that most of their fellow-citizens who have for months 
been dwellers in the islands, in contact with the native people there, and who 
have learned much of the various conditions there, — physical, social, and commer- 
cial, — should have grown increasingly opposed to the proposition to incorporate 
the Philippine peojile into the American body politic." 

Aguinaldo has uttered a protest. He gives the reason why the confidence of 
the Filipinos was destroyed by this unwarranted and unlawful order of the 
President of the United States before the treaty had been accepted, to take pos- 
session and administer the whole islands. Now, let any American put himself in 
the place of an intelligent citizen of the Island of Luzon, what would be his con- 
ception of such an assumption of power over him backed by military force ? 
Would he not protest? Witness the simple dignity of Aguinaldo's words: 

" I solemnly protest in the name of God, the root and fountain of all justice 
and of all right, and who has given to me the power to direct my tlear brothers 
in the difficult work of regeneration, against this intrusion of the Government of 
the United States in the sovereignty of the islands. Equally I protest in the name 
of the Philippine peo2)le against this intrusion, Ijecause when they gave me their 
vote of confidence, electing me, though unworthy, as President of the nation, 
wlien they did this they imposed on me the duty to sustain to death their liberty 
and independence." 

That is the answer of the man whom Admiral Dewey found tit to place where 
he could assume the responsibility with which he is charged, and on whichever 
side the first shot was fired in the slaughter of these people the sole responsibility 
for this act of criminal aggression rests upon the President of the United States. 

Yet the President says: "The treaty gave them to the United States. 
Could we have required less and done our duty ? Could we, after freeing the 
Filipinos from the dominion of Sjiain, have left them without Government and 
without power to protect life and joi-operty, or to perform the international obliga- 
tions essential to an independent State? " This question rests on false premises. 
They had a government. They had power to protect property. They have the 
power to enter into international relations, and they may yet be recognized and 
rightly recognized by other powers. 



CRIMINAL AGGIiESSIOX i:Y WHuM LUMMITTKI) 



Tlie President says in s|)eakin<; of <iilu'r iiutions: •* Did we xsk tlu'ir <()ii«<'ni 
to libenit(! tliein I'loni Sprmisli son freigiily or to enter Manila liay antl iK'stroy llie 
Spanisli sea power there? We did not ask lliese ; we were oheyinjj^ a iii;^iier nioral 
ol)li<^atioM wliirli rested on us, and wliidi did not re(jnin' anybody's eon.s«'nt. We 
were doing our duty by tlieiu with tiie eonsent of our own eonscit'nees and witii tiie 
approval of eivilization." Are we now doing our duty by them Ijy siauglitering 
them by the tliousands, and i>v l>urning and shidlinj; their \ illa;res without jT'vinir 
the women and ehildren a chance to escape? What sort of aeonseiencc warrants 
sucii acts — wliat civili/.ed man approves? 

Hut witness tiie inconsistency in this speedi. Tiie President says: •' Kvery 
present obligation has been met and fnUiilcMJ in the expulsion of Spanish sov- 
ereignty from their islands." 'I'nic, and nearly llic mdy simple and plain stat4'- 
nient of a fact to be found in the whole speech. Tlien wliy not withdraw? 
" During the progi-ess of the war with Si)aln we could not ask their views. Nor 
can we now ask their consent." Why not? Are not the people of tlu! Island of 
Luzon entitled to be consulted? Are the}- to l)e governed by military force imder 
an arl)itrary order from a foreign ruler? They have an estaljlished form of gov- 
ernment. They have jtresented state papers of uneipialled excellence and force 
which have been refused by the State Department, and rejccte<l in terms of con- 
tenopt by the military otVicers of the Unitetl States. 

The President says in excuse or palliation of this olVence : '• It i> not ;i 
good time for the liberator to sul)mit important (piestions concerning liberty and 
government to the liberated while tliey are engaged in shooting down their res- 
cuers." Surely it may not be a good time to deal with them when they are being 
liberated by death and when our forces are rescuing them with repeating rilles, 
but why were these important (|uestions not sulimitted to them before the Pres- 
ident on his own authority' asserted an imlawful dominion over them ? 

The President having brought this shame upon us ; having said that the 
Hag should not come down ; having asserted possession l)efore the cession from 
Spain had been accepted by the Senate and before he had any rightful autiiority, 
thus inciting the Filipinos to resistance, now declares: "I do not intend to 
obtrude upon the duties of Congress or seek to anticipate or forestall its action. 
I only say that the treaty of jjeace, honorably secured, having been ratified by 
the United States, and, as we confidently expect, shortly to be ratified in Spain. 
Congress will have the power, and I am sure the piu'pose, to do wliat in gootl 
morals is right and just and humane for these peoples in ilistant seas." Having 
found himself incapable of meeting the duties and responsibilities of his posi- 
tion, he is now shifting upon Congress the dreadful penalties of iiis own inca- 
pacity. Again: "Until the treaty was ratified or rejected the Executive 
Department of this Government could only preserve the peace and i)rotect life 
and property. That treaty now commits the free and enfranciiised Filipinos 
to the guiding hand and the liberalizing inlluences, tiie generous sympathies, the 
uplifting education, not of their American masters. l)ut of their Amerii-aii 
emancipators." 

Why did he assert dominion Ijefore the treaty was ratified ? Why oppress in 
the name of enfranchisement ? 

Enfranchised, indeed, under the guiding haml :uid lil)eralizing influences of 
repeating rifles, the uplifting education of dynamite guns, turned against tiiem 
by armed forces ordered to govern them without their consent. 

Again the President says : " I know no one at this liour who is wise enough 
or sufliciently informed to determine what form of government will best subserve 
their interests and our interests, their :uid our well-i)eing," thus admitting inca- 
pacity. 



12 CRIMINAL AGGRESSION : BY WHOM COMMITTED? 

He goes on to declare : " Until Congress shall direct otherwise it will be the 
duty of the Executive to possess and hold the Philippines " (we hold ten miles 
square, or less, from a pai't of which we have retreated), " giving to the people 
thereof peace and order, and beneficent government, affording them every 
opportunity to jjrosecute their lawful pursuits, encouraging them in thrift and 
industry, making them feel and know that we are their friends, not their enemies, 
that their good is our aim, that their welfare is our welfare, but that neither their 
aspirations nor ours can be realized until our authority is acknowledged and 
unquestioned." 

If it were not for the atrocities which have been committed in the name of 
duty, peace, and order, there would be something grotesque in the absurdity of 
such jjlatitudes spoken by the President before the reverberation of the guns dis- 
charged in the slaughter of the Filipinos have ceased to echo around the world to 
the dishonor of this country. 

But still we will welcome the President to the ranks of the Anti-Imperialist 
League if we can trust his words: " No imperial designs lurk in the American 
mind. They are alien to American sentiment, thought, and purpose. Our 
jDriceless princiijles undergo no change under a tropical sun. They go with 
the flag. If in the years of the future they are established in government under 
law and liberty, who will regret our perils and sacrifices ? " But if these people 
are now in the present established in law and capable of maintaining liberty, as 
they have proved themselves to be, who will not regret the slaughter which we 
have inflicted upon them ? Will not the mothers of the land regret the loss of 
their sons, now on the way to or now in Manila, only beginning to be exposed to 
worse dangers than the resistance of the I'ilipinos luider the ghastly conditions 
of the worst of tropical climates in the rainj- season ? In an aggressive cam- 
paign away from the sea we may fear that of the 25,000 men wlio have been 
despatched to Manila, if kept thei-e three or four months longer, not one-half will 
ever see their native land again ; we may fear that nearly all of the other half 
who may return will come back impaired in health and strength. The evidence 
of these dangers is conclusive. The facts disclosed by the records of the British, 
French, and Dutch armies almost prove tiiat such will be the fate that we are 
bringing uj^on the children of Americans. I know no men whose names will 
go down among the mothers of the land, even in the near future, subject to 
greater execration than the names of the men who have brought this act of crim- 
inal aggression upon the nation. 

Professor Worcester states the only conditions under which white men may 
be able to retain their health and sti'cngth in the Philippine islands in the follow- 
ing terms: "Briefly stated the facts are as follows: If one is permanently situ- 
ated in a good locality where he can secure suitable food and good drinking 
water ; if he is scrupulously careful as to his diet, avoids excesses of all kinds, 
keejjs out of the sun in the middle of the day, and refrains from severe and 
long continued j^hysical exertion, he is likely to I'emain well, always supposing 
that he is fortunate enough to escape malarial infection.*' 

If the regular army of the United States is stationed in the Philippine 
islands or in Cuba, and kept there six months, it is practically certain that after 
that term has elapsed there will be no I'cgular army of the United States in exist- 
ence capable of any effectual service even on the part of the survivors. When 
the facts become known voluntaiy enlistments will cease, and the act of criminal 
aggression can only be continued by a forced enlistment under a draft. 

Let there be no misapprehension in this matter. We can extend our admira- 
tion to our army and navy ; to the privates and most of the officers of our 
army and to the officers of the navy as well as the privates. War has not ceased 



CIUMiyAL AGGJiESSIOX : I',)' WJJUM CUMMIITEU/ 13 



among men and Iiow soon it will cejuse ikmu; i-an tell. Even Piusidetit Cleveliind 
thoujj^ht it niiglit ht^comc neccssiiry to make forceful intervention in tlu- Islaml 
of C'ul)a. When the war was prematurely entered upon it found our navy 
o-ovenied by the civil-service rules, thorou;^hly well or;^ani/.ed, the ri;;hl men 
in the rigiit places and im powei- oi- iidliieiico of any llepnssc'ntative or Senator 
capable of moving the autliorities of tlie navy, or of putting nuMi in tinsir places 
unqualified for tiie positions. 

At the Navy Department there w(!re im .Senators or K»!pres<!ntati\ fs in the 
lobby, no seekers for place and position around tiie doors. Kverytiiing was done 
with etVective energy, and the work of the navy ijears witness to the civil-service 
rules by which it has been governed. Hut when we give regard to tiie War De- 
partment, there the lobbie.s wore filled; ilicrc political inlluenee was jtaraiiKJUnt. 
There men who were wanted to take iiuport.int j>lace.s in the Commissary De- 
partment, fully qualified, were rejecteil, and incapable ptjrsons put in at the 
instance of politicians. And what did we get? We brought togethi-r an army 
under conditions which rendered it almost incapable of elVective service. One of 
the members of the Commission on the comluct of the war said to me that the 
conditions at Tampa were almost those of a mol) without head or leatler. In 
some way the line officers got the troops over the sea. There they bliindenMl into 
a direct attack upon Santiago, where the bravery of the troops and the incapacity 
of the enemy saved them from a great disaster. Men who knew the conditions 
allege that had the officers in command Ijeen willing to wait for the cooperation 
of the navy there was an ea.sy ])lace to land a few miles away, free of fortilica- 
tion, from which a railway leads, by which all our troops could have moved to 
the rear of the Santiago forts where, under the protection of the iia\y, the defences 
could have been turned, and a large part of the risk might have been avoided. 

Although giving creilit to the Navy Department and its chief, when I read 
the following paragraph closing the speech of the Secretary in support of the 
action of his chief: "Is not that the statesmanship of the great .Master who 
limited not His mission or that of His disciples to His own chosen people, but 
proclaimed that His gospel should be preached in all tiie world unto all nations, 
that greatest Statesman of all time, Jesus Christ," it seemed to me blasphemy 
to cite the authority of Jesus Christ in justification of the slaughter of the Fili- 
pinos. I can conceive of nothing more sacrilegious than that citation. When 
I was speaking the other night to the chiefs of the labor organizations who are 
moved most deeply in this matter I said. If that is Christianity you may call me 
Infidel or call me Pagan, ijut it is not; it is servile adulation in profane terms. 

The advocates of aggressive expansion tell us that we have no alternative, 
but when our alternative is presented he who presents it is called a visionary. 
There is an alternative and everything is propitious for its adoption. The ellbit 
has been made by the jingoes to get up jjublic demand for maintaining possession 
or annexing these islands by alleging danger of seizure by Cermany or France. 
They do not dare to impute such purpo.se to Great Hritain. Any such intention 
has been repudiated by the Ministry of (Jcrniany. It is <lenied by our ambassa- 
dor, Andrew D. White, and it is a false imputation maile for an evil purpose. 
France is struggling to surmount the cost of lives and money in the tropical 
colonies now held, and w^ants no more. 

What, then, are the facts about the Philippine islands. No one wants them. 
No one wants to assume the expense, danger, and cost of subduing and governing 
them. But no one nation wants the other to make a base of ofTen<-e against any 
other nation. Then why not neutralize them ? We i-an leml the Filipinos men 
like Sir Robert Hart of England, or my former townsman. K. H. Drew, who was 
formerlv a hio-h-school teacher in Brookline. These two men are now atlniinis- 



14 CRIMINAL AGGRESSION: BY WHOM COMMITTED? 

tering the customs of China. Lord Cfomer admuaisters the affairs of Egypt under 
the Khedive. The Philippines may be neutralized as Belgium is neutralized ; as 
Switzerland is neutralized ; as the Congo Free State is neutralized. Is not every- 
thing proiiitious? President McKinley has the opportunitj' to make himself a 
record in history as the great man of the century' could he comprehend his true 
mission and take advantage of the existing conditions. All nations to have their 
coaling stations ; all nations to land their cables ; all to have equal rights and 
no hostile shots to be fired upon the land, and no contest upon the waters thereof. 
We can make the Philipjjine islands tiie sanctuary of commerce ; we can aid 
the inhabitants to biing order out of chaos ; we can help them work out their own 
national salvation ; and joined with the Czar we can take the first measures for 
abating the hell of war upon the earth. 

" Can these things come to pass ? 
Nay, if it be, alas, a vision ! 
Still let us sleep and dream it true ; 
Or, sane and broad awake. 
For Its great sound and sake 
Take it and make it earth's, 
And peace ensue." 

I have remarked that whenever right-minded men make an eft'ort to establish 
peace upon earth and good-will among nations those who are imbued with the 
military spirit or with the survival of the brute element in man cry, Visionaiy ! 
These are the men who to-day, on this twenty-second of February, the birthday of 
Washington, are trying to put him in contempt by casting ridicule on his farewell 
address as having no relation to present times. Was he not a soldier? Did he 
not fight to redeem his countrymen from oppression, and did he not show when 
the conflict was ended that in him there was no survival of the brute element, 
which actuates many of the advocates of expansion ? Did he not declare and 
enforce the principles of peace? It is not only expansion, but militarism that is 
upon us, but that evil once recognized has already been suppressed. The rising 
tide of popular opinion among workingmen, among farmers, among clergymen, 
and among all thoughtful men who can rightfully claim to be good citizens, will 
resist criminal aggression and will yet compel the Congress and the Executive 
of the nation to remedy the wrongs which have been inflicted upon these people. 
Then will be found the easy way to do right; then the jji-esent Executive may 
open that way by neutralizing the Philij^pine islands and making them the 
sanctuary of commerce. The opponents of criminal aggression will then join 
in saving the President from the execration which ma}' rest upon him and his 
supporters when the death rate in our army in the tropics begins to be recorded, 
unless this great wrong is quickly i-ighted. If that right way is taken then 
the name of William INIcIvinley may yet go down in history, when all the evils 
of the present have been buried in the remote past, among the great names of 
the benefactors of the world. 

I have thus endeavored to i)ut before you, members of the clergy, a full and 
frank statement of our present conditions, without fear or favor. When the 
ojjponents of expansion first entered upon the work they seemed to be few. 
Many now active and earnestly working with us then seemed to fear that the 
nation had been so far committed that there was no way out. All that has 
changed. Congress has refused to warrant a permanently large standing army, 
and is beginning to feel the influence of the sober second thought of the people 
giving them a warning no longer to commit criminal aggression. We now 
call upon the clergy to join in this righteous cause, and to aid us with their 

earnest work. 

EDWARD ATKINSON. 



CRIMINAL AGGRESSIOy : HV II 7/o 1/ (OMMI ITFJ) 



APPENDIX. 

In order to support the stjitements subinittcil in the foregoinjif treatise in' 
adequate proofs I liave endeavored to i^et a cojn- of Senate Doeuinent No. 62, 
contaiiiinjj tlie evidence and informutioii suljinitted i)y tlu- I'residtMit willi tlic 
treaty oi' peace, — a document of live liundn-d paj^e.s. |{ut liaviii;^ as yd failed 
to secure a copy, I may lij^iitly maiwe citations from tiiis document whicli were 
.submitted l)y Hon. Ileiuy I', .loiinson and by Hon. Itici- A. I'ierce in tiieir 
speeches in tin- ilousf of i;c|ircscntativcs. 

In suijjiort i»f till' riirlit <>f tlic Kiliinnos to si'lf-j^ovcrmiii-iit .Mr. Joliiisdii .miiil, 
" Arc you aware that .Ailiniral Di'wi-y inadi- use of this lanj^ua^^c in his cotiiinunication 
to the Secretary of the Navy on tlie 29tli of hi.st /Vujrust ? — 

" Tlic population of I^u/.on is reported to be soinetliinj; over 3,000,0(K), moslly natives. These 
arc frentle, docile, ami, uiuler just laws and with the benefits of popular education, would soou 
make good citizens. 

•' lu a tele;;rain sent to the department June 23 I expressed the opinion that these people 
arc far supcrioi- in llicir intelli;,'cncc, and more capable of sclf-jjcovernmcut, than the natives of 
Cuba, and I am familiar witli Uoili races. Further intercourse with them has confirmed me in 
this opinion." 

Mr. Johnson — 

Has it escaped your notice that the United States Consui-Cionoral at Hong Kon^', 
China, made use of the following language in his coninmnication to .Mr. .Moore of the 
Department of State? — 

I consider the forty or fifty Philippine leaders, with whose fortunes I have been very 
closely connected, both the superiors of the Malays and the Cubans. Aguinaldo, Agoucdla, 
and Sandico are all men who would all be leaders in their separate departments in any country. 

In conclusion I wish to put myself on record as stating that the insurgent government of 
the Philippine islands cannot be dealt with as though they were North .Vraerican Indians, will- 
ing to be moved from one reservation to another at the whim of their masters. If the United 
States decides not to retaiu the Philippine islands its 10,000,000 people will demand indepen- 
dence, and the attempt of any foreign nation to obtain territory or coaling stations will be 
resisted with the same spirit with which they fought the Spaniards. 

In the very able speech of Hon. Rice A. Pierce many citations are given. 
He said, "And now we come to the consideration of tlie permanent holding of 
the Philippine islands, to do which General Whittier, in his testimony before 

the Paris Commission, said : 

'• If we attempt the unwise thing of ignoring the natives an aiuiy of .")0, 000 men will be none 
too small. — Senate Doc, No. ()2, ))art 1, page 008." 

In reply to the charge that Seizor Aguinaldo had been bribed by Spain to 
leave the islands and had appropriated the money Mr. Pierce refers to the fact 
that on the 24th day of IMay, 1898, Mr. Oscar F. Williams, United States Consid 
to Manila, telegraphed to the Secretary of State, as follows: 

To-dav 1 executed a power of attorney whereliy .•Vguinalilo releases to hi-* attorneys, in 
fact $400,000 now in bank in Hong Kong, so that the money can jiay lor ."5,000 stands of arras 
bought there and expected here to-morrow. 

Ao-ain Mr. Pierce recites from Dociunciit »)2 : 

On the 4th of July, 1898, Cien. Thomas M. .Anderson, commanding the United 
States troops at Cavite, addressed a letter to Scfior Don Kmilo .Aguinaldo, commanding 
the Philippine forces at the same place, in which he said (page 8'JO) : 

General : I have the honor to inform you that the United States of America, whose land 
forces I have the honor to commaml in this vicinity, being at war with the kingdom of Spain, 
has entire svmpatbv and most friendly sentiments for the native people of the Philippine islands. 



16 CRIMINAL AGGRESSION: BY WHOM COMMITTED? 

For these reasons I desire to have most amicable relations with you, anil to have you and 
your people cooperate with us in the military operations against the Spanish forces. 

To this Aguinaldo made an earnest and instant response, which was acknowledged 
by General Anderson in a note dated July 6, in which, after informing Aguinaldo that 
large reenforcements were expected from the United States, for whom more space 
would be required for camps and storehouses, he said (page 391) : 

For this 1 would like to have your Excellency's advice and cooperation, as you are best 
acquainted with the resources of this country. 

He added that they did not intend to remain inactive, but to move promptly 

" against our common enemy." 

Referring to the Spaniards' fear of the Filipinos, General Whittier said (page 491) : 
I think the Captain-General was much frightened. He reported in great trepidation that 

the insurgents were coming into the city, and I said that I knew that that was impossible, 

because such precautions had been taken as rendered it so. 

General Whittier said, in answer to a question put by Senator Gray (page 492) : 
They are somewhat undersized, are fairly good in appearance, are brave, will stand any 
amount of hunger and hardship, and, well led, would be very good soldiers. 

Speaking of their services in " driving the Spaniards from Cavite, twenty odd 
miles into the defences of Manila," General Whittier said (page 499) : 

All the success was on the natives' side, and the Spaniards surrendered between 7,000 
and 8,000 men well armed, plenty of ammunition, and in good physical condition. The excuse 
of the latter may be that their enemy was in small bands; but they never captured one of these, 
and the small bands drove them to their walls. 

The most conclusive evidence, however, of a complete understanding of the 
several military and naval officers of the United States in this matter is to be found 
in the report of Consul Wildman, which was brought into the debate as follows : 

Mr. Pierce, of Tennessee — 

Consul Wildman states, and the records show it, that openly in the Spanish Cortes 
General Rivera, who was the Spanish Governor-General, stated that of the money that 
was to be paid only .$400,000 of it, and that in Mexican dollars, was paid, when they 
had to pay over $1,000,000; that he did not propose to carry out what was stipulated 
at the time. 

In 1897 Aguinaldo, Agoncillo, and other leaders of the Philippines agreed to leave 
the island, and that certain civil reforms were to be entered upon, but as Rivera says 
himself, he did not propose to carry them out, and he did not propose to pay any 
of the money ; and this is what the Consul at Hong Kong says, and I will read what he 
says, as I do not wish to state it myself. Here is what Consul Wildman says : 

Consulate of the United States, 

HoNG Kong, July 18, 1898. 

There has been a systematic attempt to blacken the name of Aguinaldo and his cabinet on 
account of the questionable terms of their surrender to Spanish forces a year ago this month. It has 
been said that they sold their country for gold ; but this has been conclusively disproved, not oidy 
by their own statements, but by the speech of the late Governor-General Rivera in the Spanish 
Senate, June 11, 1898. He said that Aguinaldo undertook to submit if the Spanish government 
would give a certain sum to the widows and orphans of the insurgents. He then admits that 
only a tenth part of this sum was ever given to Aguinaldo, and that the other promises made he 
did not find it expedient to keep. 

I was in Hong Kong September, 1897, when Aguinaldo and his leaders arrived under con- 
tract with the Spanish Government. They waited until the first of November for the payment 
of the pi-omised money and the fulfilment of the promised reforms. Only $400,000, Mexican, 
was ever placed to their credit in the banks, and on the third of November Mr. F. Agoncillo, 
late minister of foreign affairs in Aguinaldo's cabinet, called upon me and made a proposal, 
which I transmitted to the State Department in my despatch No. 19, dated Nov. 3, 1897. 

In reply the State Department instructed me " to courteously decline to communicate with 
the department further regarding the alleged mission." I obeyed these instructions to the letter 



CRIMINAL ACnUKSSlOX : llY WHOM ( <)M M nTKJ) .' IT 

until the breiikinjj out ol' tlie war, wluii, utter iDiistiltiiliuii witli Ailininil Dcwuy, 1 received a 
dclcfjatioii IVum the iiisiiijieiit jiiiila, ami they lioiiiul tliemselves to obey uU laws of civilized 
warlftie, and to pUicc themselves ulisolulciy under ilu- ordcri of Admiral Dewey if tliey were 
permitted to return to Manila. At this time their presiilent, A;(uinalil«, was In Jjiu^aiMjrc 
nej^oliatiu','-, through Consul-tieneral I'ratt, with Adinii'al Dewey for his return. 

On April 27, in company with Consul (>. F. NViiiiams, we received another tlclcfjatioii, com- 
posed of .Seuor Samiico, .lose Maria Hasa, Tomas Ma-cardo, Loren/o L. /ialcita, Andres E. 
liarchitorcna, Manuel Malvar, Mariano Idanza, .Salvatorc Kstrella. NVe agreed, on lielmlf of 
Dewey, to allow two of their uumher to acccnnpany the lleet to .Manila. Conscipiently, on the 
same day, I took in the tu;;" Fame "Ali/andrino and (■archit<irena, accompanied l>y .Mr. Sandico, 
to the "Olympia," in Mir's Bay. On May 2 A;;uinaldo arrived in llonjj Konj^ and immediately 
called on mc. 

It was May 16th hcfore I could obtain permission from Admiral Dewey to allow A;;ninaldo 
to y:o I'y till-' Uniteil States ship " McCidloch," and I put him aboard in the ni;.'lit so as to ttave 
any complications with ilie local government. Immediately on the arrival of A;xuiualdo at 
C'avite he issued a proclamation, which I had outliiicd for him before he left, forbiddinj,' pilla;je, 
and making,' it a criminal otVence to maltreat neutrals. lie, of course, oryaidzed a ^'overinnent 
ofwhicii he was dictator, an absolutely necessary step if lie hoped to maintain control over the 
natives, and from that date until the present time lie has been uninterruptedly successful in the 
field, and dijjuified and just at the head of ids fjjovernmcnt. 

In conclusion, I wisli to put myself on rccoril as statin;,' tiiat the insur<rent },'Overnment of 
the Philippine islands cannot be dealt with as thou;.fh they were North American Indians, willing 
to be moved from one reservation to another at the whim of their masters. If the United States 
decides not to retain the Philippine islands its 10,000,000 people will demand independence, and 
the attempt of any foreign nation to obtain territory or coalin;^ stations will be resisted with the 
same spirit with which they foujjht the Spaniards. 

I have the honor, etc. 

ROUNSEVELLE WiLDMAN, 

' 'on»iif-(renera/. 

Mr. Pierce — 

And that money Aguinaldo, as shown by Mr. Williams, Consul of tiie United 
States, has turned over to buy arms. He executed a power of attorney and turned 
it over to him, that he might pay for the arms that had been purchased. I repeat 
here that the arms came under .Vmerican control, and were turned over througli Amer- 
can officials to .Aguinaldo to arm tlie natives in tlieir fight against the Spaniards, to aid 
the Americans in the capture of Manila. (.Vpplause.) We have this plain letter. It 
is not manufactured by me. We see here tiie same policy pursued by gentU-nnn on 
the other side of the House to carry out the policy of Mr. .McKinley. 

Finally, in support of the right of tlic Kilipino.-^ Mr. I'iurce quotes Ailiniral 
Dewey in tlie following terms : 

These people, the Filipinos, are far superior in their intelligence and more capal)le of 
self-government than the natives of Cuba, and I am familiar with botii laces. 

Closing as follows : 

And yet we propose to give a free government to tlie Island of Cuba, to tiie 
natives of Cuba; and George Dewey, a man soon to become an .Vdmiral, a title which 
he richly merits and deserves, says these natives of the Philippine islands are superior 
to the natives of Cuba. Congress has said that the natives of Cuba should be free. 
What the President said to the Filipinos was given to them through their press. 

The Filipinos rendered every assistance that they could to aid the United States. 
They drove the Spaniards into their walled city of Manila, held all the outer lines and 
fortifications, cut off the supplies, cut off the food and water, and rendered assistance 
to the American army which would have made it impossible for them without that assist- 
ance to have taken the Spanish army, for if it had not been for .Vguinalilo's army the 
Spaniards could have retreated from the city of Manila and beyond the reach of 
Dewey's guns. 

These citations are from the official document prepared in the olViee of the 
Secretary of State and submitted to Congress by President William McKinley 



18 CRI3IINAL AGGEESSION: BY WHOM COMMITTED? 

with the treaty of peace. It is apparent that the several military and naval 
officers of the United States acted upon their faith on the declaration of the Presi- 
dent when he announced that he did not contemplate " forcible annexation, "which 
by our code of morality he declared would be " criminal aggression." 

It, therefore, appears that carefully refraining from any act outside their law- 
ful functions. Commodore Dewey, General Anderson, Consul-General Smith 
of Singapore, and Consul Wildman of Hong Kong, secured the cooperation of 
Aguinaldo, promoted liis return in a government vessel to Manila, supplied him 
and his forces with ai-ms taken from the Spaniards, and invited his cooperation 
in the common undertaking to remove the oppressive rule of Spain from the 
Philippine islands in order that the people might enjoy liberty. The President 
of the United States, having knowledge of all these facts, then turns back on his 
declaration, gives orders without authority of law, under an assumed power, to 
General Otis to take possession and administer the government of the Philippine 
islands. 

This V)ald statement of the facts of the case calls for no words. The question 
before the country now is how to remed}' this wrong and how to remove from 
the Philippine islands tiie oppression which has been substituted for that of Spain 
with the least delay and the least humiliation. 

At the very time when the foregoing text was being put in type comes the 
first information yet received by mail of which the public has any knowledge, in 
regard to the condition of aftairs at the time and in the weeks preceding the 
slaughter of the Filipinos by our army, from a competent observer who was on 
the spot. 

Many rumors have been in circulation, based on private letters in regard to 
the origin of that attack, but in the following letter of Rev. Clay MacCauley, 
whose evidence has been cited in the body of this pamphlet, we begin to get evi- 
dence from an independent source not like that over the telegraph line under 
Government censorship : 

[Special Correspondence of the Transcript.] 

Tokyo, Japan, February '.). 

If it be true, as telegraphed by " Reuter" this morning, that "the Washington 
cabinet has decided on a vigorous offensive attack on Iloilo and on an endeavor to cap- 
ture the Filipino government of Mololos," then, so it seems to me, the greatest mistake 
yet made by the present Administration and one of the least justifiable wrongs in 
American political history have been committed and liave brought with them their 
penalty. It may be, now that the Filipino insurgents have attacked our army and 
killed some of our soldiers, that there is no way left for our Government but that of 
offensive war and an attempted conquest of the Philippine islands. But, even under 
this necessity, I cannot help remembering that had the American Government been 
generous or wise through the months just passed no assault by a Filipino army would 
have been made upon the soldiers of the United States, and no such dreadful future 
as that now probably awaiting these people would have confronted them. Ignorance 
and reckless aggressiveness in high places in America and too prosaic an obedience, a 
temperamental fault and mingled timidity and inability in the administrative authorities 
at Manila, will in time be known as the chief occasions of this terrible calamity. I do 
not accuse witiiout reasons. 

At the first, in May last, the Filipino insurgents were encouraged by the American 
authorities in their renewed hostility to the Spaniards. They were ready then to give 
any and full allegiance to the United States. At the downfall of Manila no enthusiasm 
could be greater from a people than that of the Filipinos for the Americans. What at 
that time were the supreme directions from Washington? " Have no embarrassing re- 
lations with the insurgents ; make no compromising promises ; be careful that the way 



CIUMINAL AGdRESiSIOy : JiV WlloM ' o M M 1 1 I I D ' T.t 



for the Unitoil States lie clear into the future. " Ke^'ulatioiis tliai w«re ihnil>ili»a 
wise anil, under tlie eircumstanees, iniperative. Hut luiw wi-re they a|)i)liiMl? In tlic 
answer to this question lies in lar},'('st jiart the explanation of the htru^Kle just hejjun. 
Some evil fate seems to have jjuiiletl the movement step hy step frotn its insiK'nilii-ant 
heginniiij,'s to its i)resent portentous issues. Clearly the I'nited Statt-s authorities hud 
no rijjlit in .Vu{j:ust last or since then, even to to-day, to offer to the ea^er KilipinuH 
any definite policy for the direction of their mutual relations. Hut, clearly, too, 
these authorities had imt only rij^ht, hut they were in fluty hound not to let the Kilipinos 
niisundersiand thiiii or iluir country durinj,' the critical proj^ress of events. Under the 
circumstances mutual eonfidenct', sympathy, and patience were imperative. It was 
ahove all needed that the re])resentatives in Manila of the Uniteil States fiovernment 
should ^o to these pi'o])le, just emancipated from S]ianish rule, and with kind sympathy 
tell them until they understood tiie facts witiiout doultt that, more than anythintr else, 
hoth peoples nmst wait for tlie law's delays, for a treaty of peace, for ratification of the 
treaty, and then for a definite ])olicy that should direct them in the future. In a way 
these things were known hy and made known to the Kilii)inos. Hut that was not enou(fli. 
So fearful were the American authorities that the future might he emharrassed hy their 
words or acts that very soon after the capture of Manila not only had official inter- 
course with the insurgent leaders hccome almost nil, and what there was of it almost 
wholly mandatory on the part of the Americans, hut the social intercourse also thai had 
hegun in the most cordial ways was rapidly lessened and constrained. Then, it is true 
that so far as movements were made hy the Americans either in America or the Philip- 
pines appearances more and more indicated that the United States (lovernmcnt was more 
and more tending to assume the sovereignty of the islands. Whether this assumption 
was to he for a protectorate or for incorporation of the Pliilippines into the American 
body politic was not evident, and no one responsible for his oj-inions offered to talk the 
matter over with the leaders of the Philippine republic, then coming into life. 

Through the summer and the early autumn the Filipino leaders were not averse 
to annexation to the United States. Indeed, I am under the impression that they at the 
first looked for and wished for union with the American republic. And though I am 
not in favor of the annexation of these far-away lands to the United States, I am confi- 
dent that until towards the close of the year any i)olitic representative of our govern- 
ment at Manila could have enrolled .\guinaldo and his friends among the most ardent 
supporters of the proposed annexation. Our whole attitude and action, however, seemed 
determined towards alienation and not frii'ndship. The Filipino leailers were, from 
almost the first, repelled and ignored. Hardly could men have set about in a better 
way to arouse resentment, suspicion, anger, an 1 reludlion than the men in charge of 
the administration of American interests in Manila. 

The Filipinos were made to feel that Americans considered them not worth either 
political or social consideration. Driven back upon themselves, their soldiers treated 
with contempt, their wishes not listened to or respected, if heard, told nothing of our 
Government's ultimate desires or purposes, or, if told, left without juilicious, sympa- 
thetic explanations of the course of events in Washington, — the Filipinos gradually 
accepted their isolation, organized their government more and more thoroughly, and 
began to im})ort arms and ammunition for their own support ami defence. I cannot 
blame them for having done this. They could so easily have been retained as our allies 
and friends. A sympathizer, a conciliator, a politician, in the good sense of the word, 
could have kept them with him step by step, while the a<lministration at Washington 
was coming to a consciousness of its own wishes and aims. Hut we let them go; we let 
them misunderstand us, or we did not try to keep them with us as we came to under- 
stand ourselves better. On our own authorities, not on the Filipinos, falls the blame 
that the Filipinos changed from friends to enemies, and at last turned towards us in the 
trenches at Manila a hostile front. A more lamentable series of lost opportunities, of 
neglected openings for having one's own way, of deliberate manufacture of enemies, it 
would be difficult to find in the history of nations. I am not alone in this judgment. 
Could impartial observers from among foreigners, long resident in .Manila, he heard. 



20 CRIMINAL AGGRESSION : BY WHOM COMMITTED? 

dared intelligent American officers and soldiers at Manila speak, could Aguinaldo and 
his friends be believed, my charge would not stand without ample support. 

Our own Government and tlie administrative authorities at Manila who acted for 
the home Government, both in ignorance and with recklessness, cast aside again and 
again the very agencies that would have brought about the end that the annexationists 
have most sought. Through the mistake of not having had the right men in the re- 
sponsible places, and through the excessive caution attending a policy in the process of 
formation at Washington, the Americans have lost the allegiance and incurred the hostil- 
ity of a whole people. The Filipinos once idealized the United States. They were 
ready to do our bidding to the utmost, had we but used the wands of sympathy and 
confidence. And now here we are at bayonet points, and the American Government has 
decided to attempt the " capture of the Filipinos' government at Malolos." It will be 
doubtless the policy of the imperialist press now to tell the American people that the 
Filipinos are false to their promises of last year ; are treacherous ; not fit for self-gov- 
ernment and should be suppressed, and that this war should be carried to its deadly end. 
Very well! Let all the charges of this kind be true, the fact yet remains that our own 
bungling rule in Manila has impelled them to treachery and rebellion. But the pity of 
it, when another record was so easy to make ! Had a man of the President's own 
temperament been in command at Manila, notwithstanding the caution of the uncertain 
yet aggressive Washington Administration, the new year, I feel sure, would have opened 
with the " Filipino Republic," anxious to be made an integral part of the great republic 
of the West. 

Were nations amenable to repentance and reform, something might yet be done to 
remedy this great mistake and wrong. But history, I fear, justifies no hope for such 
change. Rather does the present calamity, if this morning's telegram tells the truth, 
tempt one to say : Let us as a nation let all pretence at philanthropy' and national justice 
go. Let us admit that the Anglo-Saxon in xVmerica a? well as in Europe is a ravening 
beast still. He fought for liberty and independence a hundred years ago, but he fought 
not for the " glittering generalities " of the Declaration of Independence, — the prin- 
ciple of human freedom, — but for his own life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
Shall this new war in the Philippines be proclaimed a war of righteousness, a war for 
the sake of humanity? No! it is the penalty of our own incompetence and folly. I 
would not if I could, make the Philippines a part of the United States. Sooner or 
later out of such union would come resentment, revenge, and rebellion, even could it 
have been brought about in peace and of good will. But now, to make of this people 
our conquered subjects when they might at least have been made friendly fellow-citi- 
zens, what shame to America, what a penalty to pay for ignorance and impotence ! 

Clay MacCaulet. 

With this, the case as it now stands is submitted to the people of this 
country. 

The first edition of my treatise on The Cost of a National Crime and 
The Hell of War was dedicated to the President of the United States, in the 
hope that he would meet the responsibility so as to justify the quotation from 
Milton : 

" Oh, yet a nobler task awaits thy hand 
(For what can war but endless war still breed?) 
Till truth and right from violence be freed, 
And public faith clear'd from the shameful brand 
Of public fraud ! " 

The President has failed. It now remains for every citizen to demand that 
our public faith shall be cleared from the shameful brand of public fraud. 

EDWARD ATKINSON. 

March 8, 1899. 



